ACTSI Partners with Global Health Research Training Awards to Globalize Clinical Research Training
The Atlanta Clinical & Translational Science Institute (ACTSI) in partnership with four National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards – the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), the Fogarty Global Infectious Diseases Award, the Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Program and the Medical Education Partnership Initiative – is enhancing Emory University’s global health and research training programs, which are focused on building research infrastructure in developing countries.
During the fall 2011 semester the ACTSI’s Research Education, Training & Career Development (RETCD) program is delivering the Emory Master of Science in Clinical Research (MSCR) Scientific and Grant Writing course through live videoconferencing to trainees in the Republic of Georgia and Ethiopia. This course (MSCR 594), brings together simultaneously into a virtual classroom trainees in Atlanta, Georgia; Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia; and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Emory’s Laney Graduate School has been very supportive and has helped facilitate the development of this novel, international distance learning course. Through this collaboration, the infrastructure developed by the ACTSI RETCD program is enhancing international research training at partner institutions in the Republic of Georgia and in Ethiopia. It is also helping efforts to transition research training to an in-country model with additional support provided through distance learning and sandwich training.
Course director, Janet Gross, PhD normally teaches the course locally to Emory, Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) and Georgia Institute of Technology graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty clinical research trainees during spring semester but has adapted this semester-long class for a more international focus. “Most of the international students have never written a grant or are not competitive for the NIH grants I usually discuss. We focus on foundation grants for low- to mid-income countries,” explains Gross. “I have been reviewing online searchable databases that the group can now access. These tools are magical for the group. I also cover how to communicate directly with the funder, how to prepare biosketches, general concepts in scientific writing and the differences between grants for research and grants for clinical service.”
Five local Emory students – including one student from the Republic of Georgia completing his Masters in Public Health (MPH) supported by the NIH Fogarty grants of Drs. Carlos del Rio and Henry Blumberg as well as four graduate students in Emory’s Nutrition and Health Sciences PhD program – are taking the Scientific and Grant Writing course this fall along with their international colleagues. Ten physician-scientists, epidemiologists and public health researchers from the Republic of Georgia and five physician or PhD-level scientists from Ethiopia join the class live on Wednesdays in Atlanta where it is 10:00 a.m. while it is 6:00 p.m. in Tbilisi and 5:00 p.m. in Addis Ababa.
Using Web conferencing technology, the students in the three countries all see and hear the instructor and their fellow classmates. They ask questions, discuss the topics or make comments independent of where they are. “All the students, either in person or via video, are very engaged and observing the cultural differences has been very interesting,” said Gross. Students regularly communicate with Dr. Gross by email to turn in homework assignments and receive hands-on assistance in preparing small grant proposals. To date, students have prepared applications for the International Society of Infectious Diseases Small Grants, the Fogarty Advanced In-country Training Program and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America SHEA International Ambassador Program Grant.
The 10 trainees in the Republic of Georgia are supported through Dr. Blumberg’s Fogarty Emory-Georgia Tuberculosis Research Training Program Award and Dr. del Rio’s Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Program Award. Dr. Blumberg is a professor of medicine, epidemiology and global health in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University School of Medicine and is the director of the ACTSI’s RETCD program. Dr. del Rio is professor and chair of the Hubert Department of Global Health at the Rollins School of Public Health, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Emory University School of Medicine and co-director for Clinical Science and International Research Core of the Emory Center for AIDS Research.
The Georgians are all physicians or policy level officials including those with an interest in epidemiology, psychology, public policy, molecular epidemiology and clinical/translational research. A delegation of faculty from the International School of Public Health at Tbilisi State Medical University headed by their Dean, Dr. Mamuka Djibuti, is currently touring Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health to learn more about the MPH curriculum at Emory. One delegation member, Dr. Nino Mirzikashvili is also a student in the MSCR course and has been able to attend in-person while visiting Atlanta. She states, “Having the opportunity to take the course, whether in Tbilisi or here at Emory, has been wonderful and a great way to learn grant writing.”
The five Ethiopian trainees are supported through Emory’s Global Health Institute and the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI). The MEPI is a new award supported by the NIH, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) to enhance medical education and training and medical school infrastructure (including the research infrastructure) in sub-Saharan African countries. There are 12 MEPI grants and one was received by Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. Emory is one of the U.S. partner universities for the Ethiopia MEPI grant. The five Ethiopian students are all either physician or PhD level scientists from Addis Ababa University, the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute (which serves as the equivalent of the Ethiopian CDC) or the Armour-Hansen Research Institute.
The ACTSI of Emory University, and partners Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) and Georgia Institute of Technology, is one of a national consortium striving to improve the way biomedical research is conducted across the country. Funded through the NIH, the consortium of 60 CTSAs across the country shares a common vision to translate laboratory discoveries into treatments for patients, engage communities in clinical research efforts and train the next generation of clinical investigators
The ACTSI RETCD program is focused on providing didactic and mentored clinical and translational research training to a wide variety of trainees at Emory, MSM and Georgia Tech who are committed to careers in clinical investigation. The RETCD program provides primarily long-term clinical and translational research training to postdoctoral and pre-doctoral trainees and certificate training to PhD students, postdocs, residents, fellows and faculty. The MSCR program provides training in statistical reasoning, decision analysis, probability theory, analytical epidemiology, informatics, evidence-based medicine, implementation science, bioethics, clinical trial design, regulations involving human subjects and animals, scientific and grant writing and responsible conduct of research.
To learn more about the RETCD program please click here.